


Into the Jungle

by miltonicsimile



Series: SVT get sucked into arcade games & have to beat them to get out or they DIE [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Jumanji Fusion, Alternate Universe - Jungle, Alternate Universe - Video Game World, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arcades, Camping, Cuddling & Snuggling, Epic Friendship, Gen, Kissing, M/M, Video Game Mechanics, meanie isnt rly a big part tbh, mingyu is a HIMBO, verkwan crumbs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:35:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22105663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miltonicsimile/pseuds/miltonicsimile
Summary: Meeting up to film a new show, the hip-hop unit arrives at the arcade early and decides to play a game to pass the time. Suddenly they are swept into the game itself and find themselves in the middle of a jungle, presented with the mission of returning a stolen jewel to an ancient temple. But first, the boys must sneak into the enemy's camp, cross monster-filled rivers, and fight their way across a chasm cut through the jungle itself. And with danger lurking around every corner, three lives in the game sure doesn't seem like enough.
Relationships: Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu
Series: SVT get sucked into arcade games & have to beat them to get out or they DIE [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1591147
Comments: 21
Kudos: 96





	Into the Jungle

**Author's Note:**

> first off: the romance/ship isnt the main plot point of this fic its more of a background thing so if youre looking for hardcore minwon/meanie sorry 
> 
> next: lol so i reread this [book](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213652.Heir_Apparent) and watched both the old and new jumanji during my winter break and i was like....lol what if..
> 
> this is going to be part of a larger series where each unit gets sucked into a game but yeah i haven't written those yet lol
> 
> Warning list of things this fic contains:  
> -death...like video game death tho like each of them die multiple times but comes back immediately lol  
> -weapons they use to fight but like only kill enemy animals within the game  
> -think they drive over like soldiers at one point in their vehicle but gain theyre not real lol  
> -lol call out of imperialist and orientalist tropes of franchises like tomb raider and Indiana jones bc im me lol  
> -i mean like general life or death concerns but its fine by end so like chill
> 
> idk what else if u think i should rly add smth let me know
> 
> enjoy!!

“I still can’t believe Chan is making us do this,” Mingyu complained, pulling open the heavy metal door of the arcade, stepping inside.

“I can,” Wonwoo replied, following him in, relieved to be out of the cold of the street. Once inside Wonwoo was hit with a wave of warm air thick with the smell of buttery popcorn and teenager feet. Just slightly. It was almost expected, honestly. Chan probably felt at home here.

For the new series they were doing each of them got to choose a location for the band to go to and fool around. An arcade had been Chan’s choice. Wonwoo was excited to spend a few hours playing games and unlike Mingyu, was not going to be complaining. A day playing games would not count as work.

“This place is cool,” Vernon commented, trailing behind them. He took off his round sunglasses and put them into his hoodie pouch. He looked around in awe; mouth slightly ajar. “It’s so retro. I like the vibe.”

Retro was correct, Wonwoo had to nod in agreement. The arcade was dimly lit and filled with neon glowing lights from the glowing space shapes of the carpet to the flashing machines that filled the room. It was the middle of the day and there seemed to only be a few other people around, one of which worked there judging by her uniform.

“We’re the first ones here,” Seungcheol said, glancing at his phone. “Should we find somewhere to wait for the others?”

“Oh, hyung, come on!” Vernon chided, walking deeper into the neon-lit game filled cavern. He waved at them to follow. “Can’t we play a few rounds?”

“Yeah, I want to try these out,” Wonwoo said, walking between the rows of games. They had names he’d never heard of before, and he wasn’t sure if it was because they were rare or just old. They all looked interesting, cool character designs and bright lights that flickered around the game itself. “I’m sure we can find a four-player one.”

Seungcheol and Mingyu trailed behind, clearly less enthusiastic than him or Vernon.

Mingyu had been asleep half an hour earlier, not excited to be woken up to go film something new. Wonwoo had been too, but he never needed as much sleep as the younger boy. Mingyu always seemed so tired, like he could use a winter hibernation. Wonwoo chuckled to himself, picturing Mingyu curled up in some blankets and wearing little bear ears.

Behind him, someone sighed heavily.

“Fine. One round.” Seungcheol said.

They followed Vernon further into the arcade. Wonwoo was surprised by how big it was, it seemed they just kept walking and walking across the dark carpet covered in glowing moons and rocket ships. The flashing lights were a bit disorienting too, neon colours a bit too alien green and a bit too flamingo pink. Like a liminal space. Vernon’s tie-dyed figure ahead of him wasn’t helping.

“Hey, this one is a four-player game,” Vernon said, stopping in front of the game. He picked up one of the four grey controllers, connected by a cord to the tall boxy game. “ _ Into the Jungle _ . Return the stolen jewel to the temple. But first, you have to cross the  _ Cavernous Chasm _ , fight the monkey-king, and atone for the sins of your thieving imperialist colonial predecessors.”

Wonwoo picked up the next controller. Its bulky and retro design felt foreign in his hand, but aesthetically matched the arcade and the rest of the game. “Huh,  _ Into the Jungle _ seems ahead of its time.”

“It really does, weird,” Mingyu agreed, grabbing a controller for himself. “I mean, I used to love Lara Croft until you ruined it for me, hyung.  _ Tomb Raider _ seems so yucky now. Why would anyone raid a tomb?”

“I’m sorry for making you engage in critical thinking about the media you consume,” Wonwoo rolled his eyes, watching as the pixelated tropical jungle scene on the screen flashed  _ Start? _ “No one likes casual colonialism. Or the stealing of other culture’s artifacts thinking they deserve to be in a museum in your home country. I mean, come on.”

Vernon nodded. “And her pointy boobs were weird.”

Seungcheol sighed, picking up the final controller reluctantly. “Fine, we’ll play. But just until the others get here, okay?”

“Deal, hyung.” Vernon smiled eagerly, pressing start.

The screen went black.

“What the hell?” Vernon asked, pressing another button on the controller. The screen started to flicker between black and the green of the jungle. “Why isn’t it working?”

“Maybe it’s broken,” Mingyu suggested with a shrug. “It looks old.”

Seungcheol sighed dramatically, reaching to set his controller back down. “Oh, what a shame-”

The game began to shake. The screen lit up, lights flashing. It got brighter and brighter, and Wonwoo had to raise his arm to shield his eyes.

“What is happening?” Wonwoo called out nervously. “Guys?”

Then, everything went black.

He was flying through empty space, weightless – but no, gravity was pulling him down, faster and faster towards the ground.

“Fuck,” Wonwoo groaned when he collided with the ground. He was on his back. Lush, green foliage grew around him. He was in the shade of a canopy of trees, massive with vines hanging down and between them. And his ass hurt. “What just happened?”

“Where are we?” Seungcheol hissed, sitting up a bit to Wonwoo’s right. He was wearing a tan helmet and a camo army outfit.

Mingyu climbed to his feet, wiping the dirt from his arms. He was in a brown Panama hat, an open cream coloured vest, and tight blue jeans. “A jungle apparently.” He looked down at himself, eyes widening in horror. “And I apparently have no proper shirt.”

Seungcheol and Wonwoo snorted. Then they followed suit and stood up, looking around to get their bearings. They were definitely in a jungle. Tropical. Rainforest, maybe? Wonwoo wasn’t sure what the criteria was. A lot of rain, surely. And it wasn’t raining at this moment.

And this definitely wasn’t winter in Seoul.

The air was thick, hot and humid and filled with the humming with the sound of bugs. Wonwoo felt sticky just standing there, even in the shade of the immense trees around them.

“Ha, nice outfit, Wonwoo-hyung,” Vernon said, stepping out from between two giant flowering blushes. Vernon’s dirty blonde hair was pushed back off his face messily, and his tie-dyed hoodie was gone. Instead, he was in brown khakis and a pale linen shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

“What?” Wonwoo looked down at himself. He was in a sleeveless green shirt tucked into khaki shorts with a black leather belt around his waist. He also had a brown canvas satchel swung across his chest, which he hadn’t noticed before. “Weird.”

“Why does everyone else have proper clothes but for me?” Mingyu whined, pulling the vest tightly across his naked chest. “Is this payback for sneaking out to get ice cream with Seungkwan instead of going to the gym with Jihoon-hyung?”

“Yeah,” Vernon nodded, joining the group in their confused circle. “Definitely, dude.”

“Don’t worry, you look cute.” Wonwoo offered, then suppressed a snicker as Mingyu’s ears turned instantly red. He lived for the small things in life, like making Mingyu flustered over simple compliments. Soonyoung said it was mean to poke at Mingyu’s affections, but Wonwoo didn’t care. Seeing Mingyu blush was what got Wonwoo through the day.

“Stop teasing him, hyung.”

“What the hell happened?” Seungcheol demanded, brows furrowed. He began patting down his pockets in a panic. “I don’t have my phone!”

“Well, we were in the arcade. We were going to play  _ Into the Jungle _ , remember?” Vernon said calmly. Which was his default state, so the familiarity of it was somewhat comforting. “And then the game kind of went crazy?”

Wonwoo turned to look at him, eyes growing wide. He looked at the other boys, their outfits, the very real jungle around them from the damp heat to the bugs. This was too real and too impossible but…“You…you don’t think we’re…”

Vernon nodded gravely as a bird called overhead. “Yeah, I think we’re in the game.”

+

Wonwoo liked video games. He had played more than his fair share of them over the years, stayed up too late to finish a level. Hell, he had probably damaged his eyes some from it. But he always knew he could pause the game, save it and come back later. It was just that, a game. Nothing more. But this? This was terrifying.

“How?” Seungcheol asked, digging through his pockets again, coming up empty. “You know what? I don’t care how we got here. Just how do we get out?”

“I assume we have to beat the game, hyung,” Vernon said, mouth in a grim line. “I mean, that’s my best bet.”

“I want to go home,” Mingyu said quietly.

Wonwoo’s mind was spinning. He tried to think about everything he knew about arcade games, about video games. He needed to think this out. They could do this. As long as they worked together and stayed calm. And didn’t take too many risks.

He punched the air in front of him. Nothing.

Wonwoo kicked out. Nothing.

He waved his hand in a big windshield wiper motion in front of him.

“Bingo,” he breathed in relief as a pixelated display appeared in front of him. “Guys come look, it’s my character stat info. I’m Doctor Jeon, a professor of botany and geology.”

“Plants and rocks…” Vernon whispered next to Wonwoo’s shoulder. “Very cool.”

“It says my strengths are foraging, puzzles and apparently…. kissing.”

Seungcheol raised an eyebrow.

“My weaknesses are sight and finding pants that fit.” Wonwoo paused as the others chuckled. That wasn’t wrong. He was always having the stylist-noona’s punching new holes into belts for him. “Oh, and look, it says under my inventory I have stuff in my bag. Water bottles, compass, a tent, a hunting knife, a pot, four cups, a big gun, a machete, oh and a sword! Cool, I call dibs!”

“What’s that in the corner?” Mingyu asked, pointing to the glowing green number three.

“I think those are my life count.”

Three lives. They could work with three lives each if they were careful. But Wonwoo also knew that learning to play a new game typically came with making stupid mistakes at the beginning. Stupid, typically deadly mistakes. Which were fine when you were just playing a game for fun. Not so much when you were playing for your life.

Seungcheol was already waving his arm in front of him. “I am Sergeant Choi. My strengths are fighting, driving, leading, and decision making.”

“Wouldn’t decision-making fall under leading?” Mingyu asked.

Vernon tilted his head, looking at the chart. “I think so.”

Seungcheol ignored them both. “My weaknesses are lemons and monkey venom…do monkeys even have venom?”

“Apparently,” Wonwoo shrugged. He reached into his satchel and pulled out the gun from his inventory list. It was huge, the metal heavy as soon as it was out of his bag. “You take this. Wear it around your back. I think I carry our entire party’s equipment.”

“Dude how the hell was that in there?” Seungcheol asked, eyes wide in wonder as he took the gun. Wonwoo didn’t think his friend had ever seen a real gun, let alone held one as big as this one. But it suited his character, and Wonwoo prayed to the video game gods that in character Seungcheol would know how to use it if necessary.

“I didn’t know. Video game logic.”

Mingyu waved his hand in front of him. “Mine just says my name and that I’m Wonwoo’s assistant.” He frowned, lip coming out in a pout. “Lame.”

“Maybe you’re supposed to be like a grad student trailing the eccentric professor,” Vernon offered. “That’s kind of cool.”

“My strengths are dancing, flirting, and heavy lifting? My weaknesses are spiders, stealth, docto….uh, and clumsiness.”

Seungcheol snorted, slapping Mingyu on the back. “That seems a bit too on the nose. Really, is the game even trying here?”

Ignoring them, Vernon waved his hand eagerly. “Cool, so apparently my nickname is Croc Chwe, and I’m a jungle guide! Wild, who knew. My strengths are trailblazing, not dying by crocodile and cartography. Which is the study of maps I’m pretty sure.”

Wonwoo nodded. “That’s correct.” He pulled a map out of his bag, the paper thick worn and opened it. Blank. He handed it to Vernon. His character would be able to read it. Hopefully.

“My weaknesses are ants, lying, and chocolate.” Vernon sighed, shoulders sagging, deflated. “Damn, that’s true.”

“Okay, so now what?” Seungcheol asked, gun still in hand. It was a bit disarming, though Wonwoo held in the joke he wanted to make. This wasn’t the time for excellent puns.

“Now,” Vernon said, opening the map, “we are here, not far from the river. Past that is the big chasm cutting through the jungle, and on the other side is the ancient temple. Oh, and there are waterfalls in front of it apparently. I bet it’s very pretty.”

“Yeah, like a misty rainbow framing the temple…that must be nice.” Mingyu hummed in agreement.

The temple. Their end game was getting to the temple and returning the stolen jewel. And not die. But they didn’t have the jewel.

He waved his hand in front of him again to double-check. No jewel listed on the inventory. Shit.

“Hey, hyung, can I have the machete?” Vernon asked, leaning over to peer over at Wonwoo’s floating character stat chart. “I feel like it really matches who I’m supposed to be. Also, I always wanted one.”

Wonwoo pulled it out of the satchel and handed it over. Vernon grinned like a kid on Christmas morning, turning the blade to look at his excited reflection in it.

“Can I have something too?” Mingyu asked, leaning over to look at the inventory list. “Everyone else got something from the bag.”

“You can have the compass,” Wonwoo offered, pulling it out of the satchel and holding it out.

Mingyu frowned. “Hyung, that’s lame.”

“Mine!” Vernon grabbed the compass, spinning around, watching the arrow move. “I mean, I think I’m supposed to have it. I’m the guide. I have the map. And a machete!”

Wonwoo didn’t think it was possible for Mingyu’s brows to come any closer together in his effort to frown dramatically. He got the message.

“But I called dibs on the sword…”

“Hyung….”

Wonwoo pulled the sword out of the bag. The silver metal shone as it moved, almost glimmering, even in the shadows of the jungle around them. There was even what looked to be a fist-sized emerald fixed into the hilt. It wasn’t too heavy either, not like Seungcheol’s stupid gun. The sword had a weight to it, but one that would ensure a solid delivery in battle, but not exhaust your arm carrying it around.

“It’s so pretty!” Mingyu gasped, reaching out for it.

Wonwoo pulled the sword away. “I literally called dibs earlier.”

“Hyung!” Mingyu whined, crossing his arms across his bare chest. For someone who ate a lot of sweets and skipped out on the gym, Mingyu was in good shape. All smooth toned tanned skin. Ruined by the whining though. “Please! Come on! I’m supposed to be your assistant! Let me assist you…by wielding this blade!”

“What do I get out of it?”

Seungcheol sighed, turning to look over at him in disapproval. Again, it came off rather frightening given the uniform and massive gun. “Wonwoo, stop tormenting him.”

“Fine.” He held out the sword. “But you better protect me then.”

Mingyu squealed and took the sword. He swung it in a fast arch through a vine, slicing through it like paper. “I promise, hyung! This is so cool!”

“Almost makes up for the fact we’re stuck in a game, huh?” Vernon commented, cutting down a vine of his own. He paused, glancing at the rest of them. “So, do you think our three lives…are just that? I mean, after we die three times is it just…. game over?”

“Then let’s not die.”

“Agreed.”

Wonwoo nodded. “On the map is there anything else of importance? I mean, we don’t have the jewel to return yet. We just need to retrieve it and then return it to the temple.”

“Actually, yeah, there’s a military camp settlement on the other side of the river. It must be there.”

“Oh, Seungcheol-hyung, are you a defector?” Mingyu asked, pointing his sword at their leader. “You’re on the side of good now, instead of being an imperialist bastard?”

Seungcheol frowned, turning to Wonwoo. “This. Do you see this? This is your fault, Wonwoo. You made this.”

“Education is not the enemy, hyung.”

+

They started walking north towards the military camp. Vernon led them, slashing through vines and other foliage with his machete like was a new kind of toy and not a weapon. Or a very intense arm workout, Wonwoo imagined.

He followed behind, picking up new plants, excited when the knowledge of each one came suddenly flowing out of him. He grabbed a narrow dark green oval-shaped leaf from a vine as he walked by. Instantly, the information came spewing out of him. “Ayahuasca. Commonly known as yagé. This plant can be brewed into a tea which has hallucinogenic properties and is used for spiritual and ceremonial purposes in some cultures.”

“Trippy.”

He plucked another leaf. “Oh, this one is yerba mate. It’s part of the holly genus. It has a lot of caffeine and various other health benefits. It can also be made into tea!”

“Nice,” Vernon commented, slashing through another vine. “but not helpful for the game. Anyone else have a more relevant skill?”

“No,” Mingyu huffed from behind Wonwoo, his breath hot on his neck. “All my skills suck. Unless you want me to dance or carry something heavy.”

“’ Gyu, I’m the team leader. I’m carrying the heaviest thing here.”

Wonwoo held back a snicker. Seungcheol wasn’t wrong.

“You could try flirting,” Vernon suggested, “maybe we could get you to seduce or at least distract some of the military people.”

Wonwoo nodded in agreement. That would be hilarious to see. Especially with Mingyu’s open vest over his bare chest. He wished he had his phone to send a video to the group chat.

“No!”

“Lame,” Vernon sighed, grabbing the vine in front of him, ripping it down. His scream caught in his throat.

Wonwoo gasped, jumping backwards and bumping into Mingyu, realizing the mistake.

It wasn’t a vine.

It was a massive snake.

“Fuck!”

The snake hissed at them, mouth wide, fangs bared menacingly.

The snake was the colour of a lime and was  _ huge _ . Wonwoo hadn’t known snakes got this big. It was probably twice the size of Mingyu. (One of Wonwoo’s regular units of measurements of big things. The average six-year-old was half a Mingyu tall. Most cars were two and a quarter Mingyu’s long.)

“Seungcheol-hyung!” Wonwoo called out, heart racing, “you’re the one with the fighting skill! That would be helpful right now!”

“Shit, you’re right!”

“And you two have blades!” Wonwoo reminded them, pushing Mingyu forward. He had been hiding behind him, holding onto Wonwoo’s shoulder with a death grip that would surely leave bruises.

The snake hissed again. “Do something!”

“I don’t like snakes!

“It doesn’t like us either!” Wonwoo hollered back as the snake lunged at Vernon. “Use the damn machete!”

The snake snapped at Vernon again and he jumped back. He held the blade out in front of him, trying to keep the distance between him and the massive reptile.

Wonwoo’s heart thudded against his chest as he watched in horror as the scene unfolded before him. “Help him!”

Seungcheol lifted his gun and shot the snake, blood and scaly flesh shooting into the air.

The creature collapsed onto the jungle floor, long body twitching.

“Oh my god, hyung,” Mingyu whispered, hand over his mouth staring at it. “I can’t believe you shot it! Impressive aim!”

“Guys...” Vernon coughed.

He clutched at his chest. Blood poured out onto his white button-up shirt, painting it with rubied demise. So much blood. Too much blood.

Vernon fell to his knees and coughed again, thick with blood.

“No, no, no!” Seungcheol dropped his gun and ran towards him, taking the younger boy into his arms. But it was too late, they all knew it. “I’m so sorry!”

Vernon stilled in Seungcheol’s arms, eyes going glassy. Vacant. Gone.

Then his body began to disintegrate right before their eyes, floating away into nothing.

“What the fuck!” Seungcheol jumped away. He had tears in his eyes and his whole body was shaking.

“He has two more lives,” Wonwoo reminded them, though he couldn’t help the fear that had struck him to his core. He’d just seen one of his best friends die.

Then, through the treetops, Vernon came crashing down into the ground before them.

He groaned, pulling himself back to his feet, machete still in one hand. “I can’t believe you shot me, hyung!”

“I’m so sorry!”

“You still have two lives, don’t worry,” Mingyu said with a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He was just as shook from seeing Vernon die as Wonwoo was.

“This shouldn’t have to be said but uh, can we please try not to kill each other going forward?” Vernon asked, giving Seungcheol a dirty look. “We’re almost to the military camp. Hopefully, your stupid gun hasn’t alerted them of us.”

Wonwoo hadn’t considered that. “We really might have to send in ‘Gyu to distract them.”

“Hey!”

“Let’s just keep walking,” Vernon said, shaking his head.

No one dared to argue.

They walked for another fifteen minutes, Vernon still leading them, slashing through the jungle growth to make them a trail. No one spoke. None of this had seemed real until Vernon had lost a life. But it proved they were really in the game. That they really only had three lives. They needed to get out of here.

“Hi, there!” A cheery sounding woman stepped out from behind a tree.

Vernon reflexively jumped back, raising his machete, the others following.

“Who are you?” He asked.

The woman was tall with long brown tattooed limbs. She wore a long yellow dress and her midnight hair hung to her waist in a straight curtain.

“My name is Ayma, I’ve been expecting you.”

Wonwoo exchanged confused looks with the other boys. “Uh, go on.”

“We are glad you have come to return the stolen jewel to the temple, but this is no easy task,” she told them. “You have begun on the right path, but first you will need to gather supplies from the foreign military encampment by the river.”

Seungcheol lowered his gun slightly. His eyes didn’t soften though. “We were already planning on doing that. Don’t they have the jewel?”

“The camp is dangerous and heavily armed, but if you are to survive in the jungle and to successfully complete the mission you will need to gather supplies there.”

“Commandeer supplies,” Wonwoo commented with a snort, “awesome. Anything else?”

“Beware of the many dangers within the jungle. Know your surroundings. Sometimes the things we are looking for are right in front of us.”

Vernon shot them an amused look; eyebrow cocked. “Cryptic.”

“I wish you all the best on your mission.”

“Wait, who are you? Why are you helping us?” Seungcheol asked. “How many people are at the camp? Can you help us?”

The woman smiled. “My name is Ayma, I’ve been expecting you.”

“What the fuck?”

Wonwoo sighed, shaking his head, walking forward. “She’s an NPC. A non-player character. She’s part of the game. She can’t tell us anything more than she’s been coded to.”

“Well she wasn’t very helpful,” Mingyu commented, following behind. “she didn’t really tell us anything we didn’t know.”

“She confirmed we need to get to the camp before we go further into the mission. Gathering supplies and the jewel at the camp is probably like the first level.” Wonwoo explained. If he thought about this all like a game, it made sense. He just had to remind himself that this was all just a game. A deadly one. “We can’t skip over it, it’s our first hurdle to beat.”

Vernon raised his machete and cut through another layer of the jungle, creating a smell that was somewhat reminiscent of freshly cut grass. “Well, we’re almost there so does anyone have a plan?”

+

The military camp was sprawled across the edge of the river.

“ _ The Ravenous River _ ,” Vernon read from the map, crouched behind a tree. “Quite the name.”

“Why don’t they ever give nice names?” Seungcheol whispered, glaring out at the encampment. “I would much rather cross the sleepy river, or the soothing river.”

“Ravenous sounds way cooler, hyung,” Mingyu whispered back.

Wonwoo had to agree.

The camp was surrounded by tall walls of a chain-link fence. Within that, there was a series of tan tents around the outer edges, and a green larger cabin-sized tent at the centre. Two jeeps parked at the far end of the encampment. Video game logic declared that the biggest tent was where they would be keeping the goods they needed. Where the stolen jewel would be.

“Why are there so many soldiers in the middle of the jungle?” Mingyu scowled, looking out at the camp. At least thirty armed soldiers could be counted. “Don’t they have better things to be doing besides invading other people’s lands and stealing their stuff?”

“Apparently not,” Vernon muttered, looking down at the map. “but we need to get in there. What’s the plan?”

“I can’t go in,” Seungcheol announced, scrunching his nose up. “I really did defect. I can like tell from my character. Does that make sense? Like I just know this information, like Wonwoo’s weird plant thing."

“It’s not weird, it’s cool!”

“Well, Sergeant Choi, do you know where the evil imperialist soldiers are keeping the jewel?” Mingyu asked, waving his sword dramatically. He’d been swinging it around at any chance, whether it be just at the jungle plants or in the air for dramatic effect. Wonwoo thought it would’ve been cute if Mingyu hadn’t almost nicked his shoulder earlier with the blade. “That would be helpful.”

Seungcheol shook his head. “No, but maybe I’d know if I saw it.”

“So,” Vernon smiled at them, rolling the map up. He put the compass into his breast pocket. “Are we sticking with the original plan then?”

“Which was?”

He smirked. “Sending in ‘Gyu to distract them.”

+

At the edge of the jungle, hidden within the thick foliage west of the camp, they waited.

Wonwoo crouched behind a massive palm-like leaf, sweat dripping down his back. He felt gross, the air relentlessly hot and damp. Bugs buzzed around his head and he had to fight every urge to swat them. He had to be still. Silent.

“There he is!” Seungcheol whispered when Mingyu finally appeared out of the trees and towards the entrance of the camp. “I told him to saunter. Why isn’t he sauntering?”

Wonwoo giggled, covering his mouth with his hand. “What?”

“Isn’t he supposed to be our sexy sidekick or something?” Seungcheol said, “like the bad trope? That’s why he’s dressed like that!”

Wonwoo laughed into his hand, trying to smother his laughter. He had figured as much too, but he couldn’t believe Seungcheol would just say it like that. But it was still funny. Wonwoo couldn’t disagree with whatever evil game logic demanded Mingyu be put in jeans and vest and nothing, effortlessly attractive. Mingyu’s shy and disastrous personality made it funnier and more amusing than any confident sexy character would have. Mingyu had his own sort of charm that Wonwoo couldn’t deny.

“Yeah, I think he’s supposed to be our team's himbo, but you shouldn’t just objectify him like that, hyung,” Vernon said, “besides, without him, we’re not going to make it past level one.”

They watched as Mingyu waved at the two guards out front who stood their ground, guns in hand. Mingyu was smiling away, swaying from side to side. They couldn’t hear what he was saying, but god, Wonwoo wished they could.

“Hey, do you think his flirting will work with NCPs?” Wonwoo asked after a minute. What if Mingyu was doing all of this for nothing? Maybe this hadn’t been a good plan.

“Huh. I didn’t think about that. But he just gave them a finger heart,” Seungcheol snorted, eyes curving into amused crescents. “Oh my god.”

“That’s the signal, let’s go!” Vernon said, pulling Wonwoo to his feet with him.

They rushed at the chain-link fence. They grabbed a hold of the fist-sized holes and began pulling themselves up, sticking the toes of their boots in as much as they could, climbing.

“I’m so glad this doesn’t have barbed wire at the top,” Wonwoo commented, throwing himself over the side of the fence and landing in a crouch. His heartbeat was deafening, his stomach in a tight, anxious knot.

There were no soldiers in sight. But there was clapping coming from the direction of the camp entrance. Hooting, cheering.

Wonwoo raised a brow. Should they be concerned?

Vernon shrugged.

Seungcheol, gun raised to the ready, led them from behind one tan tent to the next. Finally, with a final sprint, they rolled beneath the thick green canvas of the main tent, their goal.

It was empty of soldiers. Luckily.

They quickly got to work ransacking the military supplies.

“Here’s some rope!” Vernon said, tossing it towards Wonwoo. He grabbed it out of the air and dropped it into the satchel at his side, instantly disappearing into their inventory.

“Here’s some granola bars that just say food ration,” Seungcheol said, handing them over. “I assume this is what will keep our energy levels up in the game.”

They went into the bag.

“Bow and quiver of arrows!”

In it went.

“Do you think we need blankets?” Vernon asked, holding up a blue roll. “Don’t we have a tent?”

Wonwoo nodded. “I don’t know, do we need blankets? You tell me, jungle guide.”

“It gets super cold at night.” He tossed four blankets over.

Into the bag.

“Guys, we need to look for the jewel,” Wonwoo reminded them, beginning to dig through trunks. “Do you remember if there was a picture of it on the side of the game at the arcade?”

“Hmm, no, not really,” Vernon admitted, looking through drawers of a desk. “maybe purple? Shiny I assume. Actually, maybe green. I don’t know, sorry, hyung.”

“Ha!” Seungcheol exclaimed triumphantly, holding something into the air. “I think this is it!”

Wonwoo pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, narrowing his eyes to get a better look. A ring. A golden ring with a gaudy diamond the size of a grape.

“That has to be it!” Vernon nodded, standing straight. He paused. “What’s that sound?”

It sounded like loud, forced, obnoxious laughter. Terrified, fake laughter. It sounded like Mingyu. And the pounding of feet. Running.

“Shit, we need to go,” Wonwoo breathed, grabbing the ring and dropping it into the bag as Mingyu burst into the tent at a full sprint.

“Time to go!” Seungcheol called, grabbing the bottom of the tent’s canvas wall next to him and lifting it up, waving for them to escape.

Mingyu didn’t even stop running, just kept sprinting through from one end of the tent and out the other. Vernon and Wonwoo followed the sounds of shouting and gunfire behind them.

They wouldn’t make it trying to climb over the fence. They would be shot like sitting ducks. They needed a new plan.

“Hyung!” he glanced behind him. Seungcheol was not far, legs running in a blur of army green. “The jeep! We need to steal a jeep!”

Understanding flashed in Seungcheol’s eyes.

“’ Gyu!” Wonwoo called out as loud as he could between breaths, “into a jeep!”

Mingyu apparently heard him, turning and barreling into the closest vehicle, Vernon tumbling in right behind him.

More gunshots. Closer. Too close.

But Wonwoo was going to make it. He was almost to the jeep. And the passenger door was open for him.

He pushed himself, forcing himself to run harder, to move faster, despite the burning of his lungs and the protest of his muscles. He was almost there…

More gunshots. The soldiers were sending a rain of bullets down upon them.

But he was there. Wonwoo threw himself into the jeep and slammed the door behind him, panting hard.

“Let’s go, let’s go!” Seungcheol cried, jumping into the driver’s seat and fumbling to turn the key in the ignition. “Oh my god, it’s a fucking stick shift? Is nothing in this game easy?” he demanded, lifting off the clutch, the jeep jarring forward into the sea of soldiers ahead of them.

“On the bright side the jeep seems to be bulletproof,” Mingyu offered, shoulders raising into a grimace as they drove over soldiers, bumpy beneath the tires.

“Hyung, just drive right through the entrance gate!” Vernon advised from the backseat, a hand on Wonwoo’s headrest. “We just need to get the fuck out of here and I think we should be fine. I mean, this is a game, right? If we beat this level, we should-”

The jeep rammed into the chain-link gate with a metallic bang, either side flying in opposite directions as Seungcheol maneuvered the vehicle forward.

“Damn, hyung,” Wonwoo clutched at his seat, knuckles white with terror. He felt faint, his vision coming in and out in flashes of colour and then blackness. His stomach rolled too, though he wasn’t sure if it was from the adrenaline or the driving. “this is some  _ grand theft auto _ shit.”

“Hey, can I have the map? I need to figure out where we’re going.”

Wonwoo handed it over, hands shaking.

Vernon struggled to hold up the map, trying to read it as they bounced around, Seungcheol driving blinding into the jungle. He was good at it though, not stalling or burning through gears. Wonwoo was glad someone one of their team got driving as one of their strengths.

“Mingyu-hyung, here,” Vernon handed over the compass he’d kept in his pant’s pocket. “We need to go north, remember? Which way are we going?”

It was getting harder and harder to hear Vernon’s voice. It was fading, getting fainter and fainter.

“Oh my god!” Seungcheol gasped, though it sounded far away. So far away.

“Wonwoo you were shot! You’re bleeding! Fuck, fuck, shit!”

“Oh no, no, no!”

A hand was pressing something onto Wonwoo’s stomach. It hurt. It hurt so bad, but it was already fading. It was nothing.

Darkness consumed him.

+

Wonwoo fell from the sky and through the trees landing next to the parked jeep.

He sat up, rubbing at his chest. He felt fine. But he remembered everything.

“Hyung!” Mingyu threw his arms around Wonwoo, enveloping him in a too tight, too hot hug. “You died!”

Wonwoo pushed him away, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, I know.” He paused, looking at the other boys. “Two more lives. It’s fine.”

Vernon’s brows furrowed slightly, but he nodded. He only had two lives left too. “We need to head back north to the river. We need to cross it, then the big chasm. Then we get to the temple.”

Wonwoo pulled himself to his feet. “Let’s do this.”

+

When they found the river again and climbed out of the jeep, Wonwoo was promptly reminded why it was called the  _ Ravenous _ river.

“Crocodiles,” Mingyu sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Lovely.”

The murky green water of the river was smooth, reflecting the shapes of the trees around them and the bright sun of the sky. And was dotted with the heads of at least a dozen crocodiles watching them. Very hungrily. Ravenous, even. They didn’t leave the water though, and Wonwoo prayed that it was part of the game. That these enemies only attacked in certain areas, in this case, the water of the river.

“Do you have any guidance, jungle guide Croc Chwe?” Wonwoo asked, running a hand through his damp hair. This damn jungle was so humid. “Or are you all name and no legend?”

“If you want to see me wrestle a crocodile, I just want to tell you my name comes from the fact that I haven’t been killed by them yet,” Vernon said, crossing his arms. “I would rather not push my luck.”

“I have an idea,” Seungcheol said, “Won, pull out the bow, an arrow, and the rope.”

Wonwoo lifted a brow, intrigued, and did as he was told.

“We’re on an incline. The other side of the riverbank is lower,” Seungcheol explained, tying the rope in a tight knot in front of the tail of the arrow. He pulled on it, testing is strength. “If we shoot the rope across, we can tie it on this end securely to a tree branch. Then we like zip-line across the river. No one gets eaten.”

“Too bad archery isn’t any of our strengths,” Wonwoo commented, glancing back at the river. It wasn’t overly wide. The rope should be sufficient. If it was strong enough.

Vernon scoffed. “Uh, excuse me, hyung. Did you forget that our team placed first in archery at ISAC this year?”

“Oh, yeah…” Mingyu said, eyes lighting up. “Seokmin broke the camera at the centre of the target because his aim was so perfect!”

“Too bad he isn’t here,” Wonwoo said, but nudged his shoulder into Vernon’s with a chuckle. He’d forgotten about their real-life strengths. They were in a game, but they still were the same people, not to be underestimated. “but we are lucky to have you. Shall you do the honours?”

Within minutes Vernon had climbed up a massive moss-covered tree, using hanging vines as leverage to pull himself up about fifteen feet. The muscles in his forearms flexed as he pulled himself onto a wide branch that reached towards the river. And the crocodiles.

Even from the ground, the sweat on Vernon’s forehead was visible. The jungle was somehow getting even hotter, the humid air clingy to their bodies like a relentless lush smelling sauna, but much less enjoyable. By video-game logic, Wonwoo figured they were around mid-afternoon, the hottest part of the day. And from what Vernon had said earlier, at night it would get cold. This jungle game was hell.

“Be careful!” Seungcheol called, hands cupped around his mouth. His brows were furrowed with worry beneath his helmet. Wonwoo patted his back. He knew this was hard on Seungcheol; he worried about them all so much on a normal day, this was an unprecedented strain. “I swear to god if you fall, I will kill you!”

“That’s mean. Then I won’t have any lives left, assuming the initial fall kills me.” Vernon steadied himself on the tree branch, lifting the bow and knocking an arrow. His gaze was focused across the river, his target a low ancient-looking tree on the other bank. Something solid and study that wouldn’t move under their weight, as long as the arrow landed hard and true.

“You can do it!” Mingyu called out encouragingly, hand raised to his forehead against the bright tropical sun. The river provided the first break beside the military camp from the sun. The rest of the time they had been at least shaded by the canopy of the trees above them. Here on the riverbank, they were in the open, the sun impossibly hot and bright, setting Mingyu’s bare golden skin aglow.

Vernon let out a soft breath and released the arrow.

It shot across the river in a fast blur, and Wonwoo let out a breath in relief when he saw it land true, deep into the tree trunk across the river.

“Now what?” Vernon called down to them, face split with a wide grin. He was already taking the other end of the rope and tying it around the branch, knotting it over and over again. Secure, hopefully. “How are we going to slide across?”

“Use your machete!” Seungcheol told him. “Take the handle in one hand, swing it over the rope and then grab the wide edge of the blade and jump. Be careful of the blade's edge!”

Wonwoo’s mouth dropped open. “That’s your plan?”

“It would work in a video game, wouldn’t it?” Seungcheol shrugged, heading for the tree. He adjusted the massive gun on his back, and then grabbed a hold of a vine and the moss, pulling himself up.

“I guess.” Wonwoo relented, following him. “I mean, we have to hope.”

Once they had climbed to the branch, sweating harder than ever, they stood and looked out at the river. It wasn’t that far. They should be able to do it.

A crocodile surfaced, snapping at them. Anticipating their falling, ravenous. Awaiting lunch.

“I’ll go first,” Seungcheol said, stepping forward and throwing his gun over the rope, grabbing either end. “This better fucking work.”

Mingyu gabbed Wonwoo’s arm, squeezing tightly as they watched Seungcheol throw himself off the branch.

Seungcheol slid down the rope and across the river, knuckles white as the crocodiles below snapped at him from below. His legs kicked widely, but he managed to drop onto the muddy riverbank on the other side in a tumble.

“Wooo!” He called out, punching the air. “Fuck yeah!”

Vernon went next, carefully grabbing the wide edge of his blade and jumping with a silent prayer. More crocodiles appeared in the river, swarming, joining from other ends of the river. But he landed on the other side too, Seungcheol wrapping him in a tight victory hug.

“You go next, hyung,” Mingyu said, nudging Wonwoo forward. “Use the bow over the rope.”

“You’re younger, you go.” Wonwoo peered down at the darkening, muddy water below. It was getting stirred up by the crocodiles. They waited. Hungrily.

Mingyu shook his head, the corner of his mouth quirking up in a half-smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “No, you go first. I weigh more than you. If the rope gives way while I’m on it, how are you going to get across?”

Cold, heavy understanding settled in Wonwoo’s stomach. Mingyu had a point. It made more sense, but still, the kindness and thoughtfulness struck him. Mingyu was always finding subtle ways to show his affection, and Wonwoo knew he too often was oblivious of it. But this, Wonwoo couldn’t help but realize this kindness and it made something in his chest ache.

He nodded. “Okay.”

With sweaty hands, he gripped either end of the bow. He didn’t dare look down. He knew what was below him. He couldn’t think about that if he was going to keep up his courage.

He jumped.

The wind that whipped past him, blowing his hair off his forehead would have been quite enjoyable, the first relief from the heat - if it hadn’t been for the monstrous semiaquatic reptiles below him that wanted to eat him.

Seungcheol and Vernon grabbed him as he let go of the bow, falling into the mud of the bank. He was grinning through his heavy, relieved breaths.

They watched as Mingyu slung his sword over the rope, grabbing onto the hilt in one hand and the blade with the other.

“Shit, it’s cutting him,” Vernon whispered, “his blade isn’t as wide as mine. It’s cutting right into his palm.”

Still, Mingyu jumped.

The crocodiles were tired of waiting. They jumped out of the water, snapping at Mingyu’s feet that hung down as he slid across the rope.

“He’s not going to make it,” Seungcheol gasped, grabbing for his gun. He pointed it at a crocodile and shot. One fell. But there were so many. Too many. “His stupid long legs!”

“Ah!” Mingyu called out, a feral sound thick with pain. Blood was dripping down his arm from his hand, hot and red. Too painful to hold.

But he was almost across. A few more metres…

“No!” Vernon screamed, racing to the edge of the riverbank. But it was too late.

A crocodile had Mingyu’s leg in its massive jaws, sharp teeth biting into the flesh.

Mingyu fell, unable to hold onto the blade cutting into his hand and fight the beast below him.

Wonwoo turned away. He couldn’t watch. Hearing Mingyu screaming was bad enough. He knew what was happening. He hoped Mingyu wouldn’t remember dying as Wonwoo did. It didn’t last long, thankfully, but Wonwoo’s stomach still twisted at the realization Mingyu had died. He thought he may be sick into the underbrush.

“Shit,” Seungcheol sighed, turning away from the river to face the wall of jungle with Wonwoo instead. “Another life gone.”

“Still two more,” Vernon reminded, joining them while they waited for Mingyu to fall from the sky above. His voice was low, shaken, the words not comforting the horror of seeing your friend die, torn limb from limb, devoured by monsters. Even if it wasn’t real, it felt real enough to hurt.

Half a minute passed before Mingyu broke through the treetops and landed with a low groan.

“Well, now we’re across that we must be on level three, right?” He said, standing back up. He forced a smile at his grim companions, not even Wonwoo could make himself smile back. They needed to get out of this game.

+

They hiked for another few hours, and Wonwoo began to wonder how long had passed in the real world. Would everyone else be at the arcade by now, wondering where the hip-hip unit had disappeared to? Would they be worried? No one would ever suspect they had gotten sucked into a game and were being forced to play their way out, their lives on the line.

“The  _ Cavernous Chasm _ is still to the north quite a bit,” Vernon told them, looking up the map. His dirty blond hair had been dark with sweat earlier, but now the jungle was finally cooling off. Nighttime was falling, and with it surely would come new dangers and challenges. “I think we should make camp for the night. I mean, we have a tent, right?”

Wonwoo nodded, taking his glasses off and rubbing them in the fabric of his shirt. They were so dirty, and he couldn’t seem to get them smudge-free. Damn jungle. “Yeah, the girl NPC said that the jungle held many dangers and we should be aware of what’s around us. Darkness means we won’t be able to see anything. I say we camp.”

“Uh, hyung, her name was  _ Ayma _ ,” Mingyu told him pointedly. He and Seungkwan were always fast to come to the defence of women, demanding respect and common courtesy. Even for fictional ones apparently. “but yeah. I agree.”

Seungcheol’s gaze flickered, taking in the jungle around them. It looked so much like everything else they had already passed through. Dark and green and full of life and danger. “Fine, let’s make camp for the night. If we eat and sleep our energy levels will rise too, I bet.”

“Yeah, I hadn’t thought of that,” Wonwoo said, opening his satchel. He pulled out the tent and blankets, tossing them to ground. Then he dug out four of the ration bars, opening his own and taking a bite.

“Hell yeah, they’re chocolatey!” Vernon moaned through a mouthful, nodding his head appreciatively. “Maybe this game isn’t that evil.”

Wonwoo did feel better after eating, both physically and emotionally. His legs and feet hurt less from all the hiking, and he felt less like screaming in frustration at their situation.

“I’ll set up the tent,” Mingyu offered, finishing his ration bar first and picking up the tent, a squarely wrapped olive-green bundle. “Since I don’t have any helpful strengths I might as well do something.”

“That’s not true,” Seungcheol told him, taking a seat on the ground to watch. Wonwoo and Vernon joined him, sitting cross-legged, chewing on their ration bars. “You distracted the soldiers and bought us a ton of time at the military camp.”

Mingyu ignored them, folding out the tarp onto the jungle floor.

“Yeah, how did you do that, hyung?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Wonwoo cocked an eyebrow, curious. “Come on, ‘Gyu. Tell us. We could hear the clapping and cheering. It must’ve been quite entertaining to get the whole damn camp distracted.”

Mingyu sighed heavily, pushing the centre tent pole into the ground. It wasn’t quite as tall as him. Everyone else would be able to stand up inside by Mingyu. “I didn’t have a plan going in. And they were just NPCs so I couldn’t really flirt with them. The talking wasn’t working. They just stared at him and said  _ who are you? What do you want? _ Over and over. So, I figured no one else would ever see me, especially dressed in this stupid vest so I decided to do what Seungkwan would do.”

Vernon snorted. “And what did you do?”

“I performed  _ Gfriend’ _ s  _ me gustas tu _ .”

They busted out into loud, raucous, Wonwoo clapping his hands, rolling onto Seungcheol. He could picture the scene in his mind, and  _ god _ was it good.

“Hyung, you’re so lucky we don’t have phones here,” Vernon told him, tears streaming down his cheeks. “that would’ve so been sent in the group chat!”

Pouting, Mingyu put up the final pole of the tent. “Well, it worked so let’s move on.”

“Imagine being an NPC and being programmed to just fight back and then you see this giant puppy-eyed boy come up to you shirtless and he starts singing and dancing,” Wonwoo said through his laughter, “apparently you overwrote their coding if you got the whole camp of soldiers to come to watch you. Quite impressive.”

Mingyu pouted, unrolling one of the blankets. “You’re welcome.”

“And thanks for putting up the tent, ‘Gyu,” Wonwoo yawned, his limbs suddenly heavy, exhaustion hitting him as the moon rose in the sky. He swatted at a misquote biting his bare leg. “I knew there was a reason we kept you around beyond aesthetic purposes.”

Mingyu’s cheeks instantly flushed, the colour still visible in the fading light.

“Now you’re just being demeaning,” Vernon chided, grabbing a blanket for himself. He headed into the tent and the others followed. “Don’t listen to him, hyung. You’re very helpful and we appreciate you being here. I couldn’t have flirted or danced my way into that camp.”

“I also don’t have a choice in being here. I was sucked into this game just like you guys.”

“I wonder if everyone else is wondering where we went,” Seungcheol sighed, flopping onto the ground inside the tent and rolling over onto his side. “I wonder what Jeonghan is doing. I bet you he’s drinking his stupid milk and not trying to stay alive in a jungle.”

Wonwoo collapsed onto the ground, taking a blanket with him. Mingyu fell next to him.

“Yeah, I miss Seungkwan,” Vernon exhaled softly into the darkness of the tent, “He’s so much funnier than you guys, no offence.”

“None taken. You’re right.”

“You’ll see him again,” Seungcheol said, voice thick with sleep. “we’ll see all the others soon. We just have to beat this stupid game and get out.”

“Yeah.”

After a few minutes, the sound of soft even breaths filled the tent. The humming of bugs rose to a crescendo outside, and the sounds of other jungle at night came out. The call of birds Wonwoo didn’t recognize, thumping and hissing he didn’t want to think about. Hopefully, their tent acted as a means of protection by game logic. He really didn’t want to spend all night fighting jungle enemies.

He sighed, rolling onto his side.

“Hyung?”

Wonwoo opened his eyes. Mingyu’s slightly blurry face stared back at him.

“Yeah?”

“I’m scared,” Mingyu whispered, voice rough and barely audible. Even without his glasses and in the dim light Wonwoo could see the way the younger boy clutched at the blankets, pulling them close to his face, curled up. Mingyu was sensitive, too much of an empath, too pure and wholesome, and people always forget about it just because of his size. Wonwoo never did. “I want to go home.”

“I know,” Wonwoo said, reaching out and pushing Mingyu’s dark hair out of his eyes gently. He meant it to be comforting, but it ended up making his chest tighten when it revealed tears welling in Mingyu’s eyes. “Me too. We will, okay? I promise we’ll get out of here.”

“Okay.”

Wonwoo sighed again. They needed to get the fuck out of this game.

“Come here,” he whispered, pulling his blanket up in surrender.

He knew it was wrong how much he teased Mingyu. He had been scolded by Soonyoung multiple times on how Mingyu’s admiration seemed like something  _ more _ . A crush. No one could fluster Mingyu like Wonwoo could, and well, he kind of liked it. But he tried not to think too much about it. They didn’t have time for anything more than teasing. Wonwoo never allowed himself to consider anything more. But they were trapped in this stupid game, and they were scared and stuck together. And well, Mingyu was the only thing that seemed normal amongst the impossible. Wonwoo wanted him close, he could lower his walls for this small comfort.

At the words Mingyu didn’t look back at him, he just scooted closer.

“It’s warmer together,” Wonwoo whispered, wrapping an arm around Mingyu, pulling him close. He couldn’t offer much besides words of promise, but he knew the younger boy would be comforted with physical affection. It was the least Wonwoo could do.

Finally, exhaustion began to tug on his consciousness. “Goodnight.”

“Night, hyung.”

+

When Wonwoo woke the next morning, he was alone in the tent. Already the air was humid, thick and hot against his skin as he stumbled out of the tent, seeking fresh air.

“Morning, hyung,” Vernon greeted him, standing over a small fire. “I hope you don’t mind but we dug through your bag and got stuff for breakfast. We made tea to go with our ration bars.”

A meagre breakfast surely, but Wonwoo nodded, taking a cup with warm liquid. “Thanks.” He clinked his cup against Mingyu’s, who offered him a sleepy smile back. He couldn’t even sleep in while trapped in a game, poor kid.

The tea wasn’t great, but Wonwoo hadn’t expected much. It was good enough to wash down another ration bar.

Vernon was yawning, stretching out against the side of a tree with his own tea. “I’m so tired of the jungle.”

“Me too.”

Wonwoo glanced over at Vernon, his words catching in his throat. Shit. “I...I need you not to freak out.”

“What?”

Seungcheol gasped, seeing what Wonwoo did. “There are ants. Red ants. All over the tree. All over you.”

“Don’t move,” Mingyu advised, eyes wide. “Maybe they won’t-”

But it was too late. Vernon’s skin was turning scarlet, his body convulsing as the ants covered him in a thick blanket of death, poisoning him, killing him. He went limp against the tree before fading moments later before their eyes.

“Fuck, we need to be more careful,” Wonwoo grimaced, finishing off his tea.

When Vernon fell to the ground no one tried to offer soothing words. He only had one life left.

“Let’s get going,” Seungcheol stood, trying to force false confidence into his voice. It didn’t hide the fear. The exhaustion. “We’re getting out this damn game today.”

Wonwoo slung his bag across his chest and nodded. He still had two lives left. “We can do this.”

Cutting through thick foliage, Vernon led them further into the jungle towards the  _ Cavernous Chasm _ . A bit of an oxymoron, but Wonwoo wasn’t about to go judging the game in case it had a vindictive streak.

“Hyung, your back is very nice,” Mingy said happily, poking into Wonwoo’s bare shoulder blade. “Pretty.”

Wonwoo glanced behind him, to see a dopey smile on Mingyu’s handsome face. Mingyu was so handsome. Why didn’t he ever tell him? So pretty. So big. So nice. Wonwoo shook his head. Mingyu normally didn’t talk like this. “What? Are you alright?”

Mingyu frowned, dark brows coming together in concentration as if considering the question very seriously. “I feel funny.”

Their entire party had stopped walking. Wonwoo was feeling funny too. His head felt fuzzy, his senses numbed slightly.

“Oh my god,” Seungcheol whispered in awe, his eyes wide, pointing at the tree to their right. “Are you guys seeing this?”

Wonwoo looked at the tree. It was a very nice green. The moss looked soft. He wanted to pet it. “Yeah, it is a very nice tree.”

“No! The dragon! The little tiny dog-sized dragon! Right there!”

Wonwoo looked at the tree. There was no dragon. “Are you okay, hyung?”

“Dude,” Vernon said softly. He was laying on his back against the jungle floor, limbs spread wide. “Come here. The greens are swirling, like dancing around us. It’s like they can hear music I can’t. Or maybe I can. Not sure. Go, little buddies!”

Mingyu was petting Wonwoo’s back in slow, reverent strokes, humming.

This wasn’t right. They needed to get to the temple. They needed to return the stolen jewel. They needed to win this stupid game and get out. But it was so warm. And everything felt so nice here. Maybe he should sit down and the dragon Seungcheol was talking to would come sit by Wonwoo. That would be nice. He always wanted a pet dragon.

“Wait, guys, the game. We need to beat the game. Focus.”

“Why, hyung?” Mingyu asked, big hands slowly dragging across Wonwoo’s shoulders. “It’s nice here.”

“Yeah, let’s just chill here,” Vernon said, hands reaching out for something in the air that Wonwoo couldn’t see.

They made valid points. It was so nice here. It wouldn’t hurt to chill for a bit.

“No, no,” Wonwoo shook his head, stepping away from Mingyu’s touch. “Fuck. What was in that tea?”

“Leaves,” Seungcheol replied simply, off in his own world.

“Fuck! Guys, we’re tripping!”

Mingyu giggled, wrapping his arms around Wonwoo, pulling him into a back hug. “Ha, yeah. So hard.”

They’d fucked up. Wonwoo knew there was nothing they could do until it wore off. But, oh, it felt so nice. Everything was softened, things were going to be okay. Besides, Mingyu was a good hugger. So big. So soft. So puppy. Why didn’t he let Mingyu hug him all the time?

He didn’t know how much time went by, but at some point Wonwoo’s mind cleared while he was sitting on the ground, counting leaves with Mingyu, Vernon splayed out next to them asleep.

“Where is Seungcheol?”

Mingyu looked up, vision finally clear for the first time in hours. “I don’t know. He was right there. Talking to his dragon.”

“Fuck,” Wonwoo said, standing up. “Wake up Vernon.”

“Seungcheol-hyung!”

“Hyung!”

“Where are you?”

Vernon woke, shaking his head as if clearing the last of the tea out of his system. “Look, there’s a trail going this way.”

Stupid. So stupid. Wonwoo should’ve known better than to just drink a random tea without checking out the leaves. He should’ve known better as the plant expert. Wasn’t that the whole point of that skill? So they didn’t accidentally poison themselves? And he’d slipped up. And now it’d cost them.

They followed the trail, calling out for Seungcheol.

“We’re almost to the chasm,” Vernon told them, “I would be worried he fell into it and died, but wouldn’t he have been dropped with the rest of the group?”

Wonwoo wasn’t sure. It worked that way in some games, but not all.

Finally, they broke out of the jungle and found themselves at the edge of a massive cliff.

“Ah, the  _ Cavernous Chasm _ ,” Mingyu breathed, peering over into the blackness below. It was a massive crack through the jungle, but on the other side, the temple was finally in sight in the distance. “Makes sense.”

“Wait, do you hear that?” Vernon asked, pausing. A voice. Someone was talking nearby. “That’s him!”

Vernon led them along the cliff edge until they came upon a massive rope bridge reaching across the chasm. It was covered in vicious-looking monkeys. And Seungcheol was sitting at the centre of it, talking to a damn monkey in a gold crown.

“Is nothing easy?” Wonwoo asked, running a hand through his hair. He wanted this to be over and done with. He wanted to be back in the cold winter of Seoul with his friends and in the real world. He was tired of the stupid heat of the jungle and everything trying to kill them.

“Hyung!” Mingyu called once they were closer to the bridge. He waved his arms above his head, trying to get Seungcheol’s attention.

Instead he got the attention of the monkeys, who all turned to look at them.

“Guys, I’m fucked,” Seungcheol called back, voice thick with fear and resignation. “I can’t move.”

The monkeys had him, grabbing Seungcheol everywhere. He couldn’t have run if had tried. And where would he have run? He was on a rickety rope bridge covered in evil monkeys over an empty thousand feet chasm.

“What are they doing?” Mingyu asked.

The monkeys were lifting Seungcheol above their heads, above the pathetic railing of the bridge.

Wonwoo inhaled sharply. “They’re throwing him over.”

The monkeys made it look so easy, their squeals and hooting of delight a chorus of death as they dropped Seungcheol over the side.

All they could do was watch as Seungcheol screamed, falling faster and faster, getting smaller and smaller as he fell into the darkness of chasm.

It took a few minutes before Seungcheol fell from the cloud and landed next to them on the cliff edge.

“Damn,” he said, standing up. “that was one fucking long fall. I think I made peace with everything, that’s how long it took. And I just want to say I love you guys, and even if we don’t get out of this alive, we did our best.”

Wonwoo slapped Seungcheol’s back, pulling him into a half-hug. He knew the older boy took on so much responsibility, both in real life and in this game. He cared about them all so much. “Don’t say that hyung. We’re going to make it out.”

“But how do we get across the bridge?” Mingyu asked.

“The game said we had to defeat the monkey-queen, remember?” Vernon said, tilting his head to look at the immense challenge in front of them. There had to be three hundred angry monkeys. At least.

Wonwoo nodded, licking his lips. He needed to think about this like it was a game because this all was just a game. “Maybe that’s it. Maybe we just need to defeat the monkey-queen and then we can pass. The other monkeys don’t matter.”

“Well, we have weapons,” Mingy shrugged, raising his sword, gleaming in the sunlight from the metal to the green gem at its hilt. “We can fight our way through. As long as one of us just kills the queen we beat the level, right?”

Wonwoo fucking hoped so because he didn’t have a better plan. He pulled the bow and quiver of arrows out of his satchel, arming himself.

The monkeys wouldn’t move off the bridge they quickly realized. They were like the crocodiles. They were coded only to do certain things in certain zones of the game. But that didn’t stop them from hollering and screaming at the boys, the sounds echoing across the chasm.

“Do we have a plan, or just kill as many as we can and push our way through?” Mingyu asked, adjusting his grip on his sword. He threw a nervous glance at Seungcheol, their leader.

“Uh, yeah, that was the plan.”

“I swear to god if I die, please tell Seungkwan I love him and I’m sorry I’m a lame boyfriend,” Vernon said, raising his machete. He wore a look of pure resignation, but still, ready to fight.

Wonwoo had forgotten the younger boy only had one life left. Shot and then the ants. Shit.

“Boyfriend?” Seungcheol quipped, peering over his gun with a gleeful smile that was ill-fitted to their current pre-battle situation. “Did you two finally decide to admit you were more than platonic heterosexual soulmates?”

“Homosexual romantic soulmates instead,” Mingyu offered with a snicker.

Vernon shrugged. “Yeah, obviously. So, please tell him sorry I suck if I die.”

The three of them laughed at Vernon until the monkey’s screeches brought them back to reality. Or, the reality of the game at least. Which was time to fight monkeys and kill their queen.

Seungcheol led them, firing with wild abandon at the monkeys which fell with blood-soaked fur over the side of the bridge. Wonwoo aimed ahead too, shooting arrows as best and as fast as he could. Behind him Mingyu and Vernon followed, slashing and cutting through the snarling creatures with surprising skills.

“There’s too many!” Mingyu called out, kicking a monkey over the side. The bridge swayed precariously. The darkness below threatened to consume them all. “More and more just keep coming!”

“If we can just get a bit closer, I can get a good shot at the monkey-queen!” Seungcheol said between shots. “I can see her! She has a stupid crown!”

Wonwoo dodged as a monkey leapt at him, forcing him to grab the rope railing of the rickety bridge. The whole bridge swung under the action and he held tight, only then realizing he had dropped his bow. It was long gone, falling into the chasm below. “Shit!”

“Hyung!” Mingyu grabbed him, pushing Wonwoo behind him as he severed a monkey’s head from its body with his sword, kicking the bloody remains over the side.

Wonwoo’s heart was racing, his breath ragged. He smiled at Mingyu. “Thanks.”

A horrifying, unnatural scream echoed across the chasm as the bridge shook. The monkey-queen was baring her teeth at them, bellowing her warnings at them. Leave, it meant, or die.

Seungcheol raised his gun, aiming at her.

The final shot hit her in the chest, knocking her backwards.

She screamed louder, the rest of the monkeys following in suit, creating a deafening wall of feral rage.

“Again, hyung!” Vernon called out.

Seungcheol shot again, this time sending the monkey-queen’s arm flying off in a blood spray.

The monkeys raced at them, fueled with rage. They climbed Seungcheol, biting him, pushing him.

Mingyu pushed Wonwoo and Vernon behind him, protecting them, before slashing blindly at the monkeys in front. But there were too many. There was no hope. They bit him. They tore clunks of flesh from his thighs, pulled at his arms until he couldn’t swing his sword.

Seungcheol shot again, the sound drowned by the cries of the monkeys as their queen flew over the side, a gory mess. Dead.

The monkeys instantly stopped. Then they began to fade, disappearing into thin air, leaving the wooden bridge painted in blood and empty, save for the four boys.

“Shit, they’re not going to make it,” Vernon panted, lowering his machete. He was right, Seungcheol and Mingyu had slumped to the wooden planks of the bridge, dead. They were already beginning to fade away, just like the monkeys.

“Come on,” Wonwoo said, pushing forward, trying to ignore the gore that surrounded them. “We need to cross to the other side so when they come back, they’re on the right side of the chasm.”

The bridge swayed as they crossed but didn’t break. They made it in one piece.

Together, Seungcheol and Mingyu came crashing down from the sky next to the bridge. They groaned as they stood, rubbing their heads. They both only had one life left now.

Instantly, Wonwoo pulled Mingyu into a tight hug, breathing in the familiar scent that reminded him of home. “Thank you for saving me,” Wonwoo whispered, squeezing Mingyu tighter. “You definitely held up your end of the bargain protecting me with the sword. Now let’s finish this game.”

He never thought he’d be so grateful to just be able to hug the younger boy, to see him standing healthy and well in front of him. Wonwoo almost felt bad that it took seeing Mingyu dying for him to realize that. He cared for him so much, always has, but was just bad at expressing it. But now this stupid game was forcing him to realize it, and to show it. If he didn’t now, then well, he may never get a chance if they didn’t win.

“A promise is a promise, right, hyung?” Mingyu shrugged, cheeks aflame.

“Another level complete,” Wonwoo told them with a grim smile. He was so fucking ready for this to be over. “Now we just need to get to the temple and return the jewel.”

Vernon was already opening the map. “It’s not far from here.”

“Let’s finish this.”

+

There was a stone path that led the way to the temple. They followed it, eyes scanning their surroundings, on the lookout or danger.

“I can’t wait to go home,” Mingyu said, sword raised and at the ready. He had grown quite comfortable with the weapon over the course of the game. He looked good with it, sword in his hand, chest bare, jeans tight. He deserved to be in a bad movie poster.

“Same.”

“Agreed.”

“Soon.”

Wonwoo didn’t know if he was ever going to be able to play video games after this. Which was a shame, but if he got out, he could take up new hobbies. Maybe he’d write a book.

“You know, for a game that’s fundamental objective is to return a jewel that’s stolen from a temple by imperialist Indiana Jonesy bastards, you’d think the overall design of the game would be less orientalist in nature,” Mingyu commented, breaking the silence of their walk.

Wonwoo chuckled, raising a brow. He was surprised that Mingyu had such a strong opinion on the matter. Sure, he’d listened to Wonwoo critique the jungle adventurer trope a few weeks ago, but it had only been the one time. For Mingyu to be able to point it out in the game they were currently in took him off guard. Wonwoo supposed he didn’t give the boy enough credit: Mingyu was just as smart as he was kind. And hot.

“Yeah, I hadn’t thought about that,” Wonwoo replied, adjusting his bag across his chest. It was clung uncomfortably to him through the dampness of his shirt. The humidity of the jungle was relentless. He was considering joining Mingyu in going shirtless just for some relief. “But you’re right. This game does seem to just be a blend of things that to outsiders is somehow both scary and beautifully exotic. Homogenizes like all jungles and cultures all temples. Like I get that it’s supposed to be vaguely South American, but I feel like they could’ve done better.”

“I think the premise of returning the jewel is enough to overlook the rest,” Vernon shrugged, adjusting his hold on his machete. He seemed to really have taken the weapon. Wonwoo wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to find an excuse to buy one when they were back in Seoul, though he couldn’t imagine what Vernon would do with one there. “In my opinion.”

They walked on, swatting occasionally at the mosquitos biting at their bare sweaty skin. The damn jungle seemed to never end.

They heard the waterfalls before they saw the temple. The sounds of crashing, relentless flow of water roared through the jungle, telling them they were near.

When they finally reached the temple they froze, all of them taking a breath, drinking the sight of it in. It towered before them, seemingly glowing with powerful ancient energy. This was it. This was their goal. This is what they had been fighting for. And they were finally here.

The temple was a massive structure, reaching high into the clouds above them with its even smooth straight lines and corners. Vernon hadn’t read the map right it seemed; the waterfall wasn’t in front of the temple. It flowed from the temple, with the steps of the temple built around the falling water, which fed into a river below. Vernon's theory about rainbows had been right.

“The final level,” Vernon said softly.

“The boss level,” Wonwoo replied, smile dropping. This would be their biggest challenge yet if they were still running on video game logic. “Remember what Ayma said. Beware of dangers and know your surroundings. Everything in this damn game wants to kill us.”

Seungcheol bumped his uniformed shoulder into Wonwoo’s. “Hey, we got this far. We can do this.”

They climbed the temple’s massive stairs in a line, weapons at the ready, water crashing down to their right.

“Ugh, my legs hurt,” Mingyu whined as they neared the top. He wiped the sweat from his brow with his arm, though it didn’t seem to do much to remedy the situation. “When we get home, I’m taking a long bath.”

As they climbed, the jungle air finally began to release them from its grasp. At the top of the temple, the air was lighter, cooler and less thick. Wonwoo took a deep breath, savouring it.

They looked around the top of the stone structure warily. It seemed deserted. But Wonwoo knew things were never what they appeared.

“Let’s go inside, I guess,” Seungcheol said, leading them inside the massive opening of the temple. It seemed like the only option: forward.

Wonwoo took the temple in. It was filled with details, carvings and stone statues, gold and jewels encrusted into the very architecture. It would’ve been a looter's dream. But now they were going to right a wrong. A fictional one, but still. It made Wonwoo feel good to be on the right side of this.

Suddenly, massive stone blocks began to fall from the ceiling.

This time, Wonwoo didn’t even have time to try to run. Suddenly the information about the rock crushing him came to mind: it was chert, a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of tiny crystals of quartz. And it cost him another life.

Wonwoo began to disappear from beneath the massive rock, the black coming faster than last time. He heard the others calling out his name.

Then he was thrown from the sky, landing at the top of the temple, which Wonwoo thought was kind of the game, all things considered. He didn’t want to walk up those massive stairs again.

He peered into the temple entrance and saw Vernon, Seungcheol, and Mingyu on the far side of the room. They had apparently survived the booby-trap.

“I’m back!”

Mingyu waved at him. “You can only step on the darker floor tiles, hyung!”

Easy enough.

“This way,” Vernon called, standing in front of a massive golden statue of a jungle cat next to a door. “My guide's knowledge tells me we need to get past this statue.”

“How do we open the door?”

“Good question.”

Wonwoo stepped closer, taking a better look at the statue. It was massive, two Mingyu’s in size, and made of pure gold, he was sure. The metalwork was perfect, seamless and unmarred except the carving in the features of the cat itself. You could clearly make out the cat’s feet and face. It had two emeralds for eyes.

“Look at the door,” Seungcheol said, “there’s some sort of pattern carved into the stone of the door. There’s like lines carved into the tiles.”

“It’s a puzzle,” Wonwoo said, the realization hitting him. “We need to solve the puzzle and the door will open.”

Mingyu hummed next to him, his body emitting a wave of warmth against Wonwoo’s bare arms. “There are only twelve tiles. We can figure this out.”

Vernon and Seungcheol began to shift the tiles around, matching up various lines at random. But it wasn’t working. They needed a strategy. There had to be a solution. One that made sense, given the contexts. Puzzles were made to be solved.

“Wait, wait, guys, I’ve got it,” Wonwoo said, stepping up to the door. He began moving the tiles, moving the tiles with triangular marks to the top. They fit. He moved the rest quickly after that, understanding the picture he was trying to create. “It’s a cat!”

“You’re a genius, hyung!” Vernon nodded, impressed as the golden statue’s emerald eyes began to glow green and the door opened.

They stepped into the next room. It was massive, pillars carved with images of snakes holding up the ceiling. Treasure of every kind filled it. Piles of golden coins and gems of every colour were everywhere. Statues encrusted with more gems lined the walls. It all shone and glittered, impossibly beautiful. And at the far end of the room on a raised dais was two massive golden hands, one beneath the other as if holding something precious.

“The hands,” Wonwoo breathed, “that’s where we need to put the jewel. I know it.”

“Home, here we come!” Seungcheol said with a grin, heading across the room.

Seungcheol only took one step until the temple began to shake. The door behind them slammed shut.

“What now?” Mingyu asked with a squeak, raising his sword, looking around the room. The piles of treasure began to break apart, coins skidding across the room. “We’re trying to return the jewel! Give us a break please ancient temple!”

The statues against the walls moved and water began to pour in, quickly filling the room. Within seconds, Wonwoo’s feet were covered in water.

“Fuck, we need to get the jewel into the hands  _ now _ !”

The water slowed them down, making their steps heavy and sluggish. Their weapons were useless. You couldn’t shoot or cut down water.

“Get the jewel out, hyung!” Mingyu called, pushing forwards as the water rose to their knees.

Reaching into the satchel, Wonwoo pulled out the diamond ring Seungcheol had found at the military encampment. He was almost to the hands. The dais was higher, the water hadn’t reached them yet. They could make it.

“Hurry, hyung!” Vernon called out.

Wonwoo pulled himself up onto the dais. His clothes were soaked, weighing him down as he struggled towards the hands. He was almost there.

“Shit,” Wonwoo breathed, looking at the fist-sized hole that was at the centre of the hands. Dread began to curl in his gut. They all only had one life yet. They weren’t going to make it.

He put the diamond ring in the centre of the hands, in the hole that waited there for its stolen jewel to be returned. Except the ring was tiny in comparison to the hole. It was an obnoxiously large diamond sure, but tiny compared to the hole. The diamond wasn’t the stolen jewel.

“What’s wrong, hyung?” Mingyu asked, climbing up the dais behind him. In the swim, Mingyu had abandoned his stupid vest and stood there in nothing but his soaking wet jeans. He would’ve looked really hot if he hadn’t been staring at Wonwoo with wide, terrified eyes.

“This isn’t the stolen jewel,” Wonwoo said, voice cracking. He turned to Mingyu, his shoulders deflating as the water rose to his knee, even upon the dais. He felt sick with dread. “This isn’t it. We came all this way, beat all the other levels, but this isn’t it. We’re never going to make it out of this fucking game. We’re going to die.”

Seungcheol and Vernon had swum up to join them, struggling to stand in their heavy wet clothes. They all looked at Wonwoo with wide, petrified eyes.

“What?” Mingyu said softly, voice thick with emotion. “That can’t be right.”

“Look for yourselves,” Wonwoo said, throat tightening. He couldn’t believe they had failed. They came all this way for nothing.

Seungcheol began to shake his head, looking around the room, trying to find something. Anything. “This can’t be right. We must have missed something.”

Vernon pushed his wet hair out of his face with both hands, his brown eyes pleading with Wonwoo. “No, hyung. We made it this far. The game wouldn’t have let us past all the other levels if we didn’t have the damn jewel to return. It doesn’t make sense. Think!”

The water was continuing to rise. It was almost at their hips now. Soon they would drown. Game over.

“Think!” Mingyu begged, grabbing Wonwoo’s shoulders, looking him in the eye, searching for answers. “Please, hyung. Please!”

They all were relying on Wonwoo and he had failed them. Failing Mingyu hurt the most though, he had made a promise to get them out. To go home.

He couldn’t give up. Wonwoo forced himself to think. He ran over all the details in his mind, trying to figure out where they went wrong. Did he miss something? Was it something obvious?

Ayma’s words from the beginning of the game came back to him.  _ Sometimes the things we are looking for are right in front of us. _

“Oh my god, I’ve been so stupid!” Wonwoo gasped. He understood. He’d been wrong about this from the very beginning! He had assumed to look elsewhere for the answer when his solution and everything he needed was right in front of him all along.

“Hyung?” Mingyu asked, eyes wide in confusion.

Wonwoo grabbed a hold of Mingyu’s cheeks and pulled him into a rough, messy kiss. It took a moment before Mingyu kissed him back, letting out the pain and desperation brought about by the game. And probably the years of Wonwoo’s teasing.

“ _ Really _ ?” Seungcheol demanded, voice rising in pitch. He threw his hands in the air, exasperated. “Right now?”

“Seungkwan is going to be so mad if I die,” Vernon said, with a defeated sigh.

The water was to their chests now. And still rising.

“The thing I was looking for was right in front of me,” Wonwoo grinned, pulling away from the kiss. “God, I was stupid. Sorry for teasing you so much, ‘Gyu. I knew you liked me, and I was too much of a coward to even consider how I felt back.”

Mingyu’s cheeks were flushed, but his eyes were bright and smile as wide as ever. “Uh…It’s okay, hyung.”

“And the sword!” Wonwoo grabbed Mingyu’s hand beneath the water and brought the sword up to look at it. “The jewel in the hilt! We’ve had the stolen jewel all along!”

Understanding flashed in Mingyu’s eyes, his mouth opened as he pried the precious green gem out of the sword’s hilt and handed it over.

This was it.  _ This _ was the stolen jewel. They’d had it all along. They were going home.

“Ready?” Wonwoo asked, looking at the other boys.

They were drenched, the water almost to their necks. All of them stared at the jewel in his hand with wonder and hope. And fear.

This was it. They were going home.

They nodded.

Wonwoo took a deep breath and set the jewel into the golden hands. It fit perfectly. Instantly, the jewel lit, up, emitting an impossibly bright green light.

“Is it working?” Vernon asked as the temple began to shake even more violently.

“I think so!” Wonwoo nodded, praying to God he was right. If not, they were about to drown. But at least he’d kissed Mingyu. At least he’d finally come to terms with his feelings. It was a shame it took them both almost dying (or dying multiple times?) to realize how he felt.

They were swimming now, the water too high not to. Wonwoo reached out and took Mingyu’s hand, who took Vernon’s and who took Seungcheol’s. One way or another, they were ending this together.

The water continued to rise; they were almost out of time.

Wonwoo took a final deep breath.

Then, everything went black.

+

They were flung back into the arcade, landing on the glowing carpet that smelled so much like a teenager's foot.

They were all still holding hands, on the floor in front of the  _ Into the Jungle  _ game. They were dry. Vernon had his tie-dyed hoodie back. Seungcheol’s hair was dry and perfectly styled again. And Mingyu, he was as handsome as ever, grinning broadly at Wonwoo.

“We did it,” Wonwoo said in disbelief, squeezing Mingyu’s hand. They were out of the game, but it had changed them. He understood how he felt now, and sure as hell wasn’t about to let go of Mingyu’s hand any time soon. “We beat the game!”

“There you guys are!” Seungkwan said, rounding the corner. He lifted a brow, taking them in. He shook his head, clearly deciding against commenting. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you. You would  _ not _ believe the day I’ve had.”

“Ha,” said Vernon, standing up and wrapping his arms around Seungkwan, pulling him into a tight hug. “Try me.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/wizardwonu)


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